Niels Frencken

Restructuring urban post-war living landscapes Niels Frencken

After the World War II a lot of districts in The Netherlands were built according to the Community Thought concept with a strict separation between the functions of living, working, recreation and traffic. After 50 years some of the original ideas are not working anymore in our changed society and an update for these districts is essential. Cultural history is a surplus value in restructuring these areas, although often only town planning are leading. Therefore I use a preservation by development approach for the total urban landscape as a basis for restructuring by identity, since the urban landscape is the setting in which all aspects of life take place. This book leads you through society, town planning and landscape architecture approaches from 1920 till now and ends with a translation of these concepts into a restructuring design in Eindhoven. It takes Genius loci (sense of place) and sustainability into account as a ?facelift? for post-war districts for the next 50 years. The book can be helpful for historians, town planners and landscape architects, as well as for governmental departments or housing agencies dealing with restructuring post-war areas in our ?living? world.